An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating

Friday, July 5, 2013

How She Got That Itsy Bisty Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

A model shows off Louisn Reard's forst Bikini in 1946.

On
July 5, 1946 war weary France was
given something explosive to shake out of the drab and depressing years of Nazi occupation.Designer Louis
Reardintroduced a skimpy new two
piece bathing suit whose very abbreviated bottom was cut high on the thigh and
well below the belly button.Since he
expected his suit to really shake things up, he named it the Bikini because the Americans had set off a highly publicized Atomic bomb testat Bikini Atoll in the Pacific four days earlier.

He
was not even the first designer with the idea.A few days before Jacques Heim had
unveiled a very similar suit that he called the atome.Maybe Reard had a better press agent, or
maybe the Bikini was just a better name, but the press went wild for his
creation.

When pictures reached the U.S. our still puritanical society was
predictably appalled and outraged.A
surprising amount of serious ink was spent in editorial columns of major
newspapers and “smart” magazines decrying the bathing suit and tsk-tsking about
plummeting morals.

Two piece suits themselves were nothing new. They had been worn
stateside with little public comment since the mid ‘30’s.The bottoms of these suits, however, were
essentially tight fitting shorts, legs cut straight across and the tops
modestly covering the navel. The tops
were armored breast-plate like bras covered with fabric and often trimmed in
pleated flounces to make sure that no swelling flesh was inadvertently
exposed.

After all this is was a nation that was so shocked by a simple one
piece tank suit in that authorities
arrested Australian swimming A champion
Annett Kellerman in 1907 for wearing
one on a Boston beach.Although her case helped overturn some of the
more draconian swimming dress codes, heavy wool suites with long sleeves,
skirts, and stockings did not disappear until the late ‘20’s.

Esther Williams’s Aquacade film
extravaganzasof the ‘40’s set off an
American interest in swimwear that was figure flattering—if a girl had
William’s substantial curves—while appropriately chaste.

Even in France the daring bikini took a while to take off with the
public.But by the early ‘50’s they were
common on the beaches of the Riviera.It took until about 1960 for bikinis to
become more than exotic curiosities in the United States.Although restrictions against them remained
in force at most public beaches and pools, the rapid spread of private pools
gave women places where they could actually wear the little suites without
being arrested.

Pools were becoming an expected attraction at the roadside motels catering
to a nation on wheels and the back yard pool had gone from being a symbol of
ostentatious wealth to a common amenity of many middle class homes.Society as a whole was becoming more
relaxed—blame the pernicious influence of Hollywood
and Rock and Roll.

In 1960 Brian Hyland chronicled
the fate of a modest young woman and her new swim suit in his hit Itsy Bitsy
Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.The
popular teen beach and surfing movies of the decade helped spread the craze,
though beach queen Annette Funicello
herself never wore one.

In 1964 Sport Illustrated inaugurated
their annual Swimsuit Issue with a model in a bikini on the cover.By ’67 even that staunch defender of middle
class propriety, Time reported, “65% of the young
set had already gone over,” to the bikini.

Of
course America still is behind Europe.The monokini will not be seen
at your local beach
and even the Brazilianthong bikini, standard around the world,
is still relatively rare on these shores.